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"5 Minutes Daily" Practice Challenge 1 2 3 4 1050
By iacas, in Instruction and Playing Tips
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I am wondering if this is worth asking ShotScope (the company) about. I have been thinking of my short game a bit and looked at my statistics. Compared to a 10 handicap (I am a 10.9 as I type this), past ten rounds, I am losing 0.06 in short game. That's close enough that I want to look at myself now compared to a 5 here. Losing 0.55, that tracks, and now I want to see where. From the rough, I'm gaining 0.03. Cool. From the fairway, I'm losing 0.13 ; some practice and being more certain of my quarter and half swing distances will shore that up I think. Bunker, -0.45; I could have guessed that. I have one greenside bunker shot per round average (if I'm reading this correctly) in the last ten rounds and it appears it wasn't a particularly good shot (when I won my flight of my club championship a few years ago, 54 holes stroke play, I hit into zero bunkers the entire tournament; that's my favorite kind of bunker play). That's cool, and I love the drill from LSW about long bunker shots. And I do try to prioritize not hitting into bunkers, and when I'm in one, my goal is get out to where I can two putt or, failing that, to where a decent putter (which I strive to be soon) can two putt. Getting up and down is a bonus, and I haven't holed out from a bunker in over 15 years. And then we have distance, where every short game range outside of 10 yards, I'm losing to the 5 handicap, and not gaining all that much inside 10 yards. 10-20 yards is the most concerning, at -0.30. My quarter 58-degree is 20 yards, so these are more touch shots, something I don't really practice (I have a few estimates for what eighth shots do, which I don't have a better term for other than "using this wedge, imagine it's a long putt motion.") I wish I had a grid: for each distance gradient, for each short-game lie type, how's my SG? Are my losses primarily a bunch of bad bunker shots with some decent-to-good not-bunker shots or do I have some distance from the fairway/rough where I have plenty of room for improvement? This isn't quite the joke about Game Golf telling me to improve at 25-50 yard shots from the other to gain 0.2 strokes per round, but something in between is what I'd like to know. -
Day 15, April 23. I have spent over an hour hitting balls today in my practice area; primarily 6-iron, the usual drill. I have noticed that when I take a backswing and check the mirror, I've stopped well short of parallel, but when I record it, I'm getting to parallel. Maybe something quantum is going on?
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The last episode with distance wedges reminded me I really need to dial in mine. I was looking at my strokes gained: approach data, which in ShotScope is 50-225+ yards. Compared to a 10 handicap (I'm a 10.9 as I type this), last ten rounds, my only area in strokes gained: approach where I'm not gaining over a 10 handicap is 50-100, and I'm considerably worse from 50-75 than 75-100 (-0.37 v -0.14). Compare the same range to a 5 handicap, and I have two ranges from outside of 100 where I'm at -0.04 and -0.01 (which does NOT bother me; I'm sure I'll be fine in those before I start really getting to the point of challenging the 5 baseline), and also the 50-100 are the only ones where I'm losing more than 0.04 to a 5 handicap. The thing is, I think I'd have known something was up even without the data, but I'm glad for the data. I'm pretty sure that what I think of as a half swing with my PW is about 50 yards, and the same swing with my 9-iron is about 65. I could probably do 75 or so, same swing, 8-iron. My gap wedge is 85-90 yards on a "full swing" (I don't take a full swing with 9 on down, I flight, something I think I got from Erik years ago) and I think a similar swing with the 54 goes 75. I also think my worst full swing clubs are the wedges. Maybe my next Skillest lesson, I should add a video of me hitting a full swing gap wedge (in addition to normal lesson recordings) and ask about it. Back to the topic. The episode discussed some practice-at-home for those shots, and I should go back and listen (and then get what I need for that). I've been thinking of revamping my home practice area, maybe getting some sort of launch monitor for home (although that may necessitate moving the practice setup to the garage, which maybe I should do, and then I could hit driver and fairway woods too). Maybe I'd be getting that to practice my partial wedges; I wonder how many people buy launch monitors for that purpose.
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I don't dislike them, but I don't play in them enough to have a real feel for them. I really don't like the SWAT format. The D player is almost never going to have the low gross on a hole, almost certainly not the unique low score. A net version of SWAT is something I could handle I think. A similar format that I came to really enjoy is a 1-2-3 tournament, which my club used to do once or twice a year at some city courses (might still do, I have been inactive in the club and am just getting back in now). Each foursome is a team. On hole 1, the best (net) score from the group counts for the "team" score. On hole two, the two best count. On hole three, the three best. Then on hole four, we're back to the best one, and we repeat that pattern for all 18. My first time playing in such an event, the tournament director and a few others were realizing they hadn't decided what the tiebreaker would be, as two teams had come in at 121. While they were debating it, my team finished our round and posted a 120, which included my first ever sub-80 round. Everyone gets a chance to feel like they're involved, although it probably isn't for the "few times a year" players that a scramble can get involved. Some of my favorite not-involving-me stories from these events were the plus handicap players being the ones out for a hole -- if the #18 handicap hole number is a multiple of three, the rest of the team might have to carry the plus handicap.
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Some notes on what worked for my driver…. 1. Firmer grip pressure 2. Fling club back feeling like it’s left arm only. Right arm is along for the ride. *Kind of my go to for everything right now. It keeps the hands in, and allows me to feel like I can put the brakes on the backswing and swing the arms down. Also feels easier to get the right arm up off the chest. 3. Fricken rip it. If I do that, and I don’t lower the club with my body, I am stripping it. Biggest misses are maybe a slight pull or maybe a straight draw if I toe it.
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